Mind you, this is not guesswork on my part. It’s all part of a well-structured, well-seasoned 15-point strategy I’ve outlined below.

But first, let me step back and explain the reason why I’m letting you tag along. Then, I’ll outline my strategic design, and show you the best way to use it.

YOU Are the Energy Market’s Solution

Many of you have asked why I decided to start this energy advisory in the first place. It stems from the misgivings I have about Wall Street gurus setting us up for another bubble…

… and you actually turn out to be the remedy itself.

Since oil is both a commodity and a financial asset, its price and direction are largely determined by the objectives of those bringing the liquidity into the market. It’s true of oil now, and this is rapidly becoming the situation with every other energy source.

The liquidity upon which oil trading is currently based reflects the interest of speculators in making money from the spread on a futures contract. They have no interest in either the actual oil or longer-term effects on trading.

You, on the other hand, do.

The truth is average investors have a more balanced view, since they look more long-term. That means many average investors, taken together, can actually provide the liquidity necessary to stabilize the energy markets.

That’s why I decided to write Oil & Energy Investor… because it is you who literally has the ability to prevent the next asset meltdown. It’s all about power in numbers.

Of course, you will also be making some serious money along the way, and that’s fine too.

How You’re Going to Make Money

My strategy is composed of five entry points, five essential ingredients, and five elements you need to know.

Taken together, these 15 considerations comprise a strategic investing approach I have developed over decades of experience.

First, the entry points…

The entry points are where I will bring you into the market. They include:

Companies in the upstream (production), midstream (distribution), and downstream (wholesale and retail);

Technology developers and providers;

Ancillary and support entities;

Energy trading and hedging; and

Product spreads

The first three involve standard investment plays – buying or selling stocks and bonds, using puts and calls when appropriate, to maximize gains and minimize losses.

Here we will be appraising companies, their performance, and their potential. In other words, this is traditional investment 101 as it applies to all kinds of energy and all participants in the sector.

The last two are newer opportunities. Here the average investor can participate in the profits from playing paper assets (futures contracts) against “wet” assets (the actual underlying oil, gas, or energy consignments), as well as the market value of one valued-added product (say gasoline) against others (for example, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, or petrochemical feeder stock).

We will follow investment targets in one or more segments: providing energy; improving efficiency or delivery; making available the necessary field, power plant, or market services; and trading the resulting energy itself.

For each of these plays, I will lay out for you the why, the who, when in, and when out.

The Essential Ingredients of Success

But to succeed as an investor, you need to have access to where the money is being made. That is not simply access to the market in general, but a trading position having particular characteristics. This is the next part of our strategy.

Think of these “essential ingredients” as the building blocks of a successful investment approach.

To succeed you need:

Access to trading liquidity sufficient to temper volatility;

Exposure to the right trades and executions;

The flexibility to move into and out of the action;

Ease of application – it does not help if there is a correct move out there somewhere, but it requires two pages of equations to get to it; and

Timing.

This last consideration is without doubt the most important single element in any trading strategy. Good timing makes money. Bad timing loses money – period.

And yes, all of the above are my responsibility. You don’t need to worry at all.

The Elements You Need to Know

The final category of the strategy considers the five primary elements you need to know. Each of these comprises a main aspect of the market in which we will be trading. Keep in mind, these components are not static; they change.

Therefore, you need to understand:

The environment, that is, the factors both inside and outside the market impacting a potential investment move. These often change the attractiveness, or even the desirability, of what may otherwise appear to be a promising trade.

The sequence of events – both those improving the investment and those cautioning against it – allows the investor to participate in direction or flow. Confusing what is a cause and what is a result has brought down many an investment model.(Being able to do the first two elements allows you to do the next two, clearly the most important. Just as computer trading programs analyze factors before acting, so must you. However, your approach is actually more direct.)

You need to be able to identify triggering events, those that produce an expected result, and

Determine when to move in and when to leave.

Finally, all of this needs to be in plain language.

There it is in a nutshell – the 15 elements of our trading strategy. I do the heavy lifting, and you make the profits.

All You Have to Do is Follow Along

In the months that follow, I will be introducing several energy moves to make you money. As the market changes, as its volatility increases, this strategy will allow us to move with it.

And this leads to the third matter I want to address before we get to some specific profit opportunities: How we use the strategy.

Actually, this is the easy part.

You don’t need to worry about crunching the numbers or revising the math formulas and permutations (I’ve got that covered too). You won’t be talking to decision makers worldwide (that’s also my job, though I will continue to bring you along in my weekly updates) or identifying sequences, triggering events, applications or any of the other elements in the strategy.

You will receive all of that right here…

To have a chance to get in on the most profitable plays long before they become apparent to everyone else, all you have to do now is follow along.

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